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Op-Ed: When it comes to climate change, farmworkers reap what we sow

December 20, 2019 By chris

Op-Ed written by Michelle Peedin, NCIPL Youth Leaders Coordinator, published in the Winston-Salem Journal. Click here to access the article on their site. With the crispness of the fall season […]

Op-Ed: When it comes to climate change, farmworkers reap what we sow

December 20, 2019 by chris

Op-Ed written by Michelle Peedin, NCIPL Youth Leaders Coordinator, published in the Winston-Salem Journal. Click here to access the article on their site.

With the crispness of the fall season normally comes the bounty of the harvests, as grocery stores and farmers markets throughout the state overflow with all the varied agriculture that North Carolina has to offer. North Carolinians depend on the western apple orchards and eastern sweet potatoes to prepare staple dishes for the holidays. However, as is increasingly common, these harvests are feeling the effects of climate change — and so are those working in the fields. Here in North Carolina, and across the country, there are few more vulnerable than farmworkers, a population that is working hard to gain rights but will only face more challenges because of climate change.

From increasingly frequent and severe heatwaves to lower crop yields to higher risk of mosquito-borne diseases, climate change is already affecting the health of farmworkers and impacting their ability to economically sustain themselves. After a string of weather-related disasters created one of the worst years for agriculture in decades, fa

rm owners are facing extraordinary uncertainty this year as climate change-fueled extreme weather ravages otherwise productive land. Increasingly, climate change is resulting in greater instability for farmworkers, with harsher working conditions and dwindling yields resulting in fewer working hours and more risk. For farmworkers, if you don’t work, you don’t get paid.

For those who labor in our North Carolina fields, a population that is overwhelmingly Latinx immigrants, that uncertainty extends beyond their paychecks and into their physical and mental health. As a fellow with Student Action with Farmworkers, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of farmworkers and their families, I witnessed the unimaginable conditions farmworkers endure on a daily basis while working and living in the fields. I saw farmworkers returning to cramped living quarters with no air conditioning after having worked 12-hour days in 100+ degree temperatures. With rising temperatures affecting agricultural industries around the country, outdoor laborers face a far greater risk of heatstroke, dehydration and kidney failure as a result of their environment. In an industry that is rife with abusive labor practices, these conditions all add up to make an already difficult workplace all the more precarious.

As a first-generation child of an immigrant mother, I’ve seen firsthand how these climate-fueled health disparities are affecting both documented and undocumented communities throughout North Carolina. Migrant farmworkers, in addition to many other Latinx and undocumented communities, stay in homes that are often susceptible to flooding. I remember reading heartbreaking stories of Latinx families who lost everything after Hurricane Florence. Extreme weather events, like Florence, are made more severe by climate change and have a disproportionate effect on those who work outdoors.

In addition to climate justice issues such as hurricane impacts, environmental justice issues such as water and air quality are prevalent in many local communities, too. Nationwide, insufficient access to health care among Latinx populations is one reason why children in these communities are 40% more likely to die as a result of an asthma attack compared to white children. Couple this with the fact that an estimated 39% of Latinx families live within 30 miles of a polluting power plant, and we begin to see the unique ways in which a failure to act on climate change is a particularly dire failure for communities of color.

Addressing the root cause of these injustices is going to require much more than just talking about it – we must commit to transitioning to a 100% clean energy economy. With Hurricane Florence alone costing North Carolinians nearly $17 billion, it’s clear that nothing short of bold action will suffice.

Unfortunately, our senators, Thom Tillis and Richard Burr, recently sided with big polluters over the health and wellbeing of our state by voting to support the Trump administration’s so-called “Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule,” which would extend the lives of dirty coal plants and do absolutely nothing to curb the carbon pollution behind climate change. While farmworkers and Latinx communities are bearing the brunt of climate change’s devastating impacts, our senators have shown themselves to be more interested in lining industries’ pockets than in taking action on climate and helping transition North Carolina to a 100% clean energy economy.

For the sake of vulnerable laborers, hardworking Latinx immigrants, and all North Carolinians, we must act on climate. It’s time our senators do the same. Join me as we call on our elected officials to take action now.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Climate Change, crop, farmworker, farmworkers, food, heat, heatwave, Latinx

Peppers Picked in Prayer

November 12, 2013 By chris

Climate Change Is Real… In Many Ways… In Different Places… At The Same Time… As We All Exist.   Today I picked these peppers due to early freezing temperatures in North […]

Peppers Picked in Prayer

November 12, 2013 by chris

Peppers

Climate Change Is Real…

In Many Ways…

In Different Places…

At The Same Time…

As We All Exist.

 

Today I picked these peppers due to early freezing temperatures in North Carolina.
Although each pepper could’ve lived longer on the vine if the weather wasn’t so dangerous…
I was mindful with each pluck that all food is a blessing…
I wished I could be sharing with all those desperate for food in the Philippines.

I’m aware there is no ecological way to transport food to faraway places…
My intention is in the name of the poor, the hungry, those in need…
For all those suffering from the devastating impacts of climate change,

I offer my devotions in the form of behavioral atonement and faithful practice of Creation Care.

Prayers for Justice,
ST Sig
Director, NC Interfaith Power & Light

————————————————————–
“No nation will be immune to the impacts of climate change,” said a major World Bank report on the issue last year. “However, the distribution of impacts is likely to be inherently unequal and tilted against many of the world’s poorest regions, which have the least economic, institutional, scientific and technical capacity to cope and adapt.” — NY Times Blog, ANNIE LOWREY 11/12/13
————————————————————–

Filed Under: Blog, Uncategorized Tagged With: Climate Change, food, Philippines, Prayer

Episcopal Church of the Nativity, Raleigh

March 26, 2013 By chris

Episcopal Church of the Nativity, Raleigh 8849 Ray Rd. Raleigh, NC 27613 Contact: Carl Sigel, cwsigel@aol.com The Environmental Stewardship group at Episcopal Church of the Nativity in Raleigh has a mission […]

Episcopal Church of the Nativity, Raleigh

March 26, 2013 by chris

Episcopal Church of the Nativity, Raleigh
Episcopal Church of the Nativity, Raleigh

Episcopal Church of the Nativity, Raleigh
8849 Ray Rd. Raleigh, NC 27613
Contact: Carl Sigel, cwsigel@aol.com

The Environmental Stewardship group at Episcopal Church of the Nativity in Raleigh has a mission to bring Creation Care from the periphery of our parish life to a more central position.  This objective is in harmony with The Episcopal House of Bishops Pastoral Teaching on the environment issued in September 2011 which states we have an ecological crisis, and “Christians cannot be indifferent to global warming, pollution, natural resource depletion, species extinctions, and habitat destruction, all of which threaten life on our planet.”

Many of the Bishop’s recommendations for actions by parishes and individuals had already been introduced in early 2011 at Nativity. During the weekend of February 18 to 20, Nativity and NCIPL cosponsored an Earth Care weekend. On Friday evening, Dr. Kathy Shea spoke about climate change and health, on Sunday    morning, Dr. Carl Sigel during the adult education hour, addressed ways to incorporate ecological thinking into worship, education, and institutional life. The worship service that morning included ecological liturgy, hymns and sermon. In April 2011, Nativity started a community garden, which will be expanded in 2012. On several occasions during the summer, fresh produce from the garden was donated to the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle. To provide grounding for the garden efforts, a four week program based on the Interfaith Power & Light Cool Harvest was presented in June.

More recently, Nativity participated in Interfaith Power & Light’s national Preach-In on Climate Change on February 12, 2012. Services  were led by the Rector Rev. Stephanie Allen with the participation of Rev. Jerry Cappel, Associate for Justice Ministries, St. Matthews Episcopal Church, Louisville, Kentucky, Coordinator of Environmental Ministries for Province IV of the Episcopal Church and President Kentucky IPL. Rev. Cappel also led an interactive Adult Formation session on how Christians should think about climate change. In the afternoon, Rev. Cappel visited Chapel of the Cross in Chapel Hill, participating in an adult forum and the evening worship service. During Lent 2012, for Adult    Formation, Nativity will use a five part Anglican Bible Study, called, “And it was good” http://www.aco.org/ministry/theological/bible/lent.cfm.

At a time when powerful forces in government, business, and the media divert our attention from an environmental crisis that threatens human civilization and all life on Earth as we know it, as people of faith, we need to be mindful of and thankful for our religious leaders, who look to both faith and science to develop a worldview based on reality and provide clear guideposts for us to take action.

-Carl Sigel, Chair of Nativity’s  Environmental Committee

Filed Under: Food, Success Stories Tagged With: food

Central United Methodist Church, Charlotte

March 26, 2013 By chris

6030 Albemarle Road | Charlotte, NC 28212 Contact: Karen Carpenter, thecarps3@yahoo.com In 2011, Central United Methodist Church (CUMC) Charlotte was one of four churches in the nation to win Interfaith […]

Central United Methodist Church, Charlotte

March 26, 2013 by chris

Central United Methodist Charlotte garden
Central United Methodist Church garden


6030 Albemarle Road | Charlotte, NC 28212
Contact: Karen Carpenter, thecarps3@yahoo.com

In 2011, Central United Methodist Church (CUMC) Charlotte was one of four churches in the nation to win Interfaith Power & Light’s “Cool    Congregations Challenge,” awarding effort by faith-based  congregations to address global warming at the grass-roots level. The $1,000 award recognized Central in the category of   sustainable grounds and water conservation.

Demonstrating ways to reduce its carbon footprint and inspire its members and others in the community, Central started a community garden last spring with 24 plots, including some raised beds. To preserve water and enrich soil, volunteers tilled in 48 cubic yards of compost made from county recycled yard waste with additional dirt removed from construction sites. They created garden paths from mulch recycled from tree trimmers, and converted recycled, neutralized barrels into cisterns for irrigation. They established a compost pile to winterize the garden and prepare for Spring. This year’s harvest provided locally grown produce to congregants,  neighborhood gardeners, and the church’s food pantry, which serves 15 families from Albemarle Road Elementary School, a local  high-poverty, high-English as a Second Language elementary with whom Central partners.

Three other winners were selected from New Mexico, Connecticut and Indiana for energy efficiency, renewable energy and inspiring congregants to lower energy use at home.

-Lucille Howard, CUMC member

Filed Under: Food, Success Stories Tagged With: food

Saint Francis of Assisi, Raleigh

March 26, 2013 By chris

Saint Francis of Assisi, Raleigh 11401 Leesville Rd  Raleigh, NC 27613 Contact: Bill Rhoades, wrhodes1@mac.com We are a Franciscan community in North Raleigh that is inspired by our patron, St. Francis, […]

Saint Francis of Assisi, Raleigh

March 26, 2013 by chris

St. Francis of Assisi, Raleigh
St. Francis of Assisi, Raleigh

Saint Francis of Assisi, Raleigh
11401 Leesville Rd  Raleigh, NC 27613
Contact: Bill Rhoades, wrhodes1@mac.com

We are a Franciscan community in North Raleigh that is inspired by our patron, St. Francis, who lived simply and had a special connection with all of creation.  About three years ago, our community re-invigorated our efforts to become a more sustainable living community through starting a new ministry, Franciscan Care of Creation (FCC).  As our community proceeded with plans to build additional buildings, the FCC participated with the Building Committee to incorporate many energy-saving measures.  As a result an expanded pre-school, a new activity/community center, and a new chapel all received a gold LEED building certification.  In addition, our new Siena Life-long Learning Center received a silver certification.  These were designed with sustainable principles in mind.

The FCC has been invited to participate on other parish committees to provide our perspective in their decisions. Based on a recent energy audit, the parish achieved 20% improvement in energy efficiency.  This has resulted in lower power usage and the resulting dollar savings.   In recent years, we have been replacing our oldest HVAC units as funds can be made available.  This summer we plan to replace our two oldest (1989) HVAC units.  The new buildings utilize much natural lighting.   For our existing buildings we are transitioning to green lighting systems with CFLs and LEDs.

Our community has always had a special concern for those less fortunate than ourselves.  Considering the needs of the hungry, we have started an organic community garden.  This consists of multiple raised beds that are tended by volunteers.  Although the garden is less than two years old, it has delivered around 750 pounds of food to the needy. In this effort we have received help from other faith congregations as well as NC State. The garden also provides opportunities for children and families to connect to the Earth and learn about the benefits of locally grown, organic produce.

The ministry has had water cleanup activities at Falls Lake and at rivers and streams in Wake and Durham counties, often in partnership with other organizations.  We have provided information after services on sustainable living, have held movie nights and had speakers. We will be expanding our garden, having more educational programs, and reaching out to others as our resources allow.

–Franciscan Care of Creation Team

Filed Under: Food, Success Stories Tagged With: food

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